Potential tail injury - or am I just being paranoid?

[SunnySellsShells]

This afternoon I noticed that my 11 month-old tortie wasn’t relaxing her tail but kept it lifted from the base, as if slightly altert/scared, all the time. Picture attached.

I know cats are good at hiding paint so I’m beginning to think she might have injured herself. I plan to take her to the vet on Monday (it’s closed on Sunday). Am I being paranoid? Is this tail business normal?

Pain not paint!

One of mine carries her tail like that. Hers is bent at the top. She's never held it aloft abs straight. I suspect she's had a tail injury at some point. If it's not normal for you cat then definitely get it checked out.

Thanks Toddlerteaplease - it’s a relief to hear that some cats just carry their tail this way. She had never done it before though so I will take her to the vet anyway, just to be on the safe side (you can tell I’m a paranoid cat mum, can’t you? )

You can't possibly be as paranoid as I am!

As it's a new thing, I'd ask the vet to see what they think.

She looks like a tortie/tabby. She's lovely.

Ours started holding his tail like that, it was an infection/abscess round the base of his tail as he'd been bitten on the bum by another cat - he had to have an op to get it all cleaned out but (apart from feeling sorry for himself due to a cone of shame and a shaved tail) he was fine

My cat lost the ability to lift his tail straight up, we thought it was broken but it turned out to be an abscess from a bite, just like the PP. it’s a running away injury rather than a standing and fighting one.

A quick update....

Just as with Usernamesareboring and chemenger’s cats, the poor kitty had a nasty looking abscess at the base of the tail, only I couldn’t see anything (she’s very fluffy for a short hair). Vet said it was a running away injury as explained in the PP and that the poor cat must have been in excruciating pain. Vet gave kitty an antibiotic and a painkiller and recommended wet food (to keep the fluid intake up) and lots of rest.

I’m SO glad I had it checked. Thank you lovely litter tray users (you know who you are) for your constant reminders that cats are brilliant at hiding their suffering.

Poor kitty, I hope she's OK. Just keep an eye on it as sometimes those infections can be stubborn - we managed to get ours to the vets within 12 hours of the fight (I'd heard it happen before work but the tail thing only presented later) he had the antibiotic injection and painkillers, he was ok initially but about 36 hours later I noticed he was not himself (very subdued and refused to get off the spare bed) and he still had a lump under his tail so we took him back to the vet. He had a high temperature as the infection was still there, so he had to have it all cleaned out under general anaesthetic.

Hopefully ours was extreme and yours will get sorted with the injection, but if she continues to seem off colour it's worth taking her back to get checked out.

Poor thing. Hope she's feeling betters